Love Potion
by Slytherin Princess Nysa
Summary: A wesen takes pity on a dying Nick and saves his life, but to save Nick, he must be bonded to someone else. Adalind hated the Grimm, she'd tried to kill him a number of times, but now that their lives depend on each other, they have to overcome their differences and protect one another or they're both dead. Danger is looming, especially if anyone found out about their bond. AU
1. A Beginning of Something

_Love Potion_

By Slytherin Princess

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**Chapter One**

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**~Nick Burkhardt~**

His arm gushed blood down the stained sink and pooled over the yellowed and cracked tiles in the gas station bathroom. Nick stared at his reflection, a bloodied and bruised face stared back at him. A deep cut ran along his hairline, dripping into his black eye and sticking into his stubble, and slipping down his neck. His breath came in short gasps and his head spun as Nick tried to steady himself on the porcelain edge of the sink.

He wanted to call Juliette or Monroe, hell, Hank or Rosalee would be a comfort to him. Just to hear a friendly voice, someone who cared about him. But his phone was sitting dead on the passenger seat in his car, where he'd left it before he was jumped.

Nick's hands shook as he lifted his button-down shirt to reveal the blooming blues and greens of the bruises covering his ribs. His chest felt like it was on fire, flames licked inside his skin and seared his bones. The burn spread through his chest and abdomen, leaving him to choke and cough until a splatter of blood ran over his lips. He whipped the trail of blood from his mouth with his torn sleeve.

His knees locked and Nick dropped to the ground like a bag of rocks, his already heavy head crashing against the floor with a crack. White spots danced across his vision, the light overhead flickered as he drifted in and out of consciousness.

_Is this karma for all the lies I've told the people I love? All the excuses I gave Hank and Juliette while working wesen cases? All the times I resented being a Grimm instead of embracing the fate of my family for decades?_

Distantly he could hear the bathroom door being slammed open, handle smashing into the wall as someone rushed inside. A pair of hands belonging to a blurry figure lifted his head and Nick squinted his eyes, trying to see more of the person above him. But all he could come up with in his state was long, dark hair.

"It's going to be alright," a soft voice whispered above him as gentle hands stroked his matted hair away from his forehead. "Don't struggle. I'll make you better."

"No-" he tried to pull himself away as hands dug through his pockets, finding his wallet and notepad, passing by his gun and badge without a thought. "Who are-?"

The woman hushed him as Nick began to cough, her cool hands pressing into his skin to dull the ache. "It will be alright." She repeated again.

A feeling of tranquility washed over him, like water flowing from the tips of the woman's fingers down his wary face and inflamed chest, alleviating the pain. The beating he had taken from the half-dozen wesen seeming like a distant memory. All the cuts and bruises covering his body were nothing more than his imagination.

Nick felt safe and warm- like he was sitting on his comfortable couch at home, drinking a cup of hot coffee and watching the Sunday game with Hank and Wu.

Nick felt his muscles relax and the weight of his body become lighter than a feather. Strangely he could hear classical music floating around him, the scent of freshly baked garlic bread filled his nose and the feel of paper on his fingertips.

"_Is dinner ready yet_?" someone asked and Nick tried to open his eyes or answer but he couldn't move. He felt like a marble statue, trapped in darkness without sight or a voice. "_Adalind_?" they called out again.

Nick felt a tinge of anger break through the mist of contentment at the mention of the hexenbiest. She had done so much to hurt him and his friends- things she had gotten away with, avoiding punishment from both the detective and the Grimm version of Nick. From trying to kill his already dying aunt in the hospital, drugging his partner into falling in love with her, blackmailing him for his ancestral Grimm key, to trying to murder him constantly.

Rosalee had mentioned something about taking away Adalind's powers the last time he'd spoken to her. Hank was still recovering from the love potion, thankfully they had gotten to him before he became too enamoured and Juliette was stable.

A blinding light flashed before his eyes before he lost consciousness completely.

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**~Unknown~**

A picture was wedged between the pages of his notepad, edges soaked in the detective's drying blood. Staring back was a beautiful blonde with piercing blue eyes. She was smiling widely towards the camera and there was a humorous spark in her eye.

The woman looked passed the picture towards the man's face, he was in great pain. She tried to ease it but he continued to be difficult and struggle against the calming spell. She could hear the blood in his veins hemorrhaging and smell his life fading away the longer she waited to do something.

She flipped the photograph over again, reading the looped script on the back. It was a woman's elegant handwriting. A gift from his girlfriend while he's fighting crime, perhaps.

_Adalind Schade_

_Central Park, New York_

_February 2014_

The spell was in a morally grey area. She had never used it before, only having read about it secretly in her family's library.

But in that moment, watching a man die right in front of her, holding him as his blood soaked her jeans and stained her skin, she felt like it was the only choice she had. She closed her eyes and began to whisper the spell in his ear, feeling the magic seep through her and flow out towards the man. A golden glow filled the bathroom, strings of silver wrapped around the detective and reached out towards his lifeline.

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**~Adalind Schade~**

Serena and Camilla were sitting on her couch drinking wine while Adalind checked the boiling pot and the timer for the oven. The pasta was almost done and she could hear her friends talking in the living room. Adalind had kicked off her heels the moment she had walked through the door, wanting to be more comfortable before they could go over their casefile for the week. It was a big company merger for a friend of their boss and the three of them were covering the case as vigilantly as possible.

She shrugged her blazer off, folding it over the back of one of her dining chairs and stirred the pasta.

"Addy!" Serena called from the other room. "Is dinner ready?"

Adalind rolled her eyes at her friends' impatience. "Almost!"

"Hurry up, Cami is about to tell us about her one night stand from this weekend."

"The firefighter?" Adalind asked, checking on the baking garlic bread before turning the stove off and pulling the tray out of the oven. "Or the journalist?"

"Neither," Cami giggled. "The pilot."

She poured the pasta into plates and balanced them carefully as she walked back to the living room, setting all the food on the table. Her friends refilled her wine glass and quickly ushered her into a seat on the plush couch.

"Did he take you into his cockpit?" Serena wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"You're disgusting!" Cami was careful not to spill either of their wine glasses as she wacked Serena across the arm with one of the embroidered pillows on Adalind's couch. "But it was certainly a bumpy ride on the way down."

They broke out in laughter, Adalind rolled her eyes and sunk her teeth into a slice of garlic bread, rubbing a headache into her temples. She felt the slam of something hard against the back of her head, leaving her a gasping mess. Distantly Adalind saw her hand drop her wine glass onto her rug, watching the red pool at her feet like blood.

"Adalind?" Serena asked her, voice full of concern.

"I don't-" Adalind swayed, an intense burning sensation traveling through her. Sharp jabs of pain appeared on her ribs. "I don't feel-"

Her nails dug into the fabric of her couch, she could hear the rip as her fingers tore through, leaving behind claw-like stripes. Adalind's throat felt raw and she could hear the bloodcurdling scream as it left her, breaking the bottle of wine on the table and the mirror next to the front door. An excruciating, twisting pain crawled up her spine.

Adalind didn't know when she dropped to the ground but she could hear her friends panicked voices, but when she opened her eyes they weren't there. She looked around the filthy bathroom, grimacing away from the mold and stains covering the walls and floor.

She felt herself being lifted from the ground as her eyes rolled back and she lost consciousness.

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_To be continued..._

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Grimm or any of the characters. Although if I did there would definitely be more seasons.**

**I got into the Grimm fandom very late, as in two weeks ago while I was in Europe and I marathoned the whole thing and now here I am. I loved the Adalind and Nick relationship from episode one (Adalind might have also been an instant favourite because we have the same name, it's just spelled differently). This story will be an AU- which means the timeline is a goddamn mess- based slightly on the episode _Blind Love_, and I don't know how long it will be or exactly when I'll be updating.**

**Just enjoy, follow, favourite and review!**


	2. The Pain that Binds Us

**Chapter Two**

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**~Adalind Schade~**

Excruciating was an easy word to describe the pain coursing through her veins when she woke up on the harsh hospital mattress. There was an IV needle sticking out of the crook of her arm and Adalind glanced around the empty corner room. The first rays of sunlight were beginning to come through the window and Adalind came to the conclusion that she had been there all night, at the least. The machines surrounding her showed a stable heart rate and that was a small comfort, since she had no idea what else was going on.

Everything ached, she felt like she had been cut open and sewn back together by a group of Frankensteins. Her eyes widened and, in a barely contained panic, Adalind lifted the scratchy hospital gown to check her chest for whatever was causing her pain. There were no stitches or gauze or anything else to prove she'd gone through a surgery. Her fingertips,however, were bandaged and Adalind distantly remembered feeling the break of her nails into the couch.

With a relief filled heavy sigh, Adalind dropped back into the bed.

Her fingers ran through her hair, snagging on knots and tugging on the headache building behind her eyes. It was strange, the way the pain had come so suddenly, so severely and the weight still pressed down on her. Her eyes began to blink shut and she could feel herself slipping back into a dreamless sleep- a few last images passing through her mind.

Getting out of a car parked on the edge of a dark street, sinister figures appearing out of the shadows- stalking towards her, the feeling of teeth and claws on her flesh. She could clearly see the disgusting gas station bathroom she was laying on, hear the footsteps of another person entering the room. A muttering of illegible words in her ear.

Adalind could hear her breathing slow, the machine sounding the slowing of her heartbeat and the images were nothing more than blurs. Distantly, she realized she was dying.

Her eyes snapped open, gasping breaths filled her lungs as she sat up. Her wrists were covered in pins and needles and when Adalind glanced down, she watched the silver strings wrap around her hands and up her forearms before flowing out and through the wall.

She quickly changed out of the hospital clothes and into a pair that Serena or Cami must have left behind. The strings gave a tug and Adalind slipped on her shoes to follow.

Two corridors later she reached the end of the silver line, the door was closed but she could hear voices coming from inside. They sounded panicked and she could hear snippets of words filled with worry. Her heart gave a lurch and Adalind clutched the front of her tee shirt.

She stumbled towards the door and her hands shook as she pushed it open. Her surprise was palpable when her eyes zeroed in on the unconscious Detective Grimm before scanning the rest of the room. His friends rose from their seats, moving around Burkhardt, as if she was ready to attack him right there in the hospital room.

As if she were that stupid.

"What are _you_ doing here?" the Blutbad sneered from the foot of Burkhardt's bed, his face taking on his canine features. Adalind didn't fail to see the humour in that.

It wasn't a surprise that his friends would be there, despite visiting hours not having started. Burkhardt's heart monitor was steadying, no doubt from her proximity to him and Adalind felt the pull to him increasing. "I need to touch him."

"And let you curse him or kill him? Absolutely not." Juliette hissed between her teeth. She was a beautiful woman, bright eyes and silky hair. But her face was twisted and ugly when she looked at Adalind.

"Juliette's right, you need to leave." Hank stood with his arms crossed, he was the closest to the door and Adalind could see his gun and badge on his belt.

"You don't under-" her knees buckled, sending her crashing into the ground. Her chest burst into a spasm. She could see the silver strings binding her to Burkhardt blurring softly, suddenly not so bright. "I need to touch him." It was a plea, even to her own ears.

The Grimm's girlfriend moved to stand directly between Burkhardt and Adalind, not in the least bit aware of how close to death her boyfriend was. "We already said no."

"Stop it, all of you." The woman sitting on Burkhardt's bed said. Adalind recognized the woman as the one who owned the spice shop in town, she vaguely remembered her name being Rosalee. "Explain why you have to touch Nick."

"Because I'm dying-" Adalind gasped through the shooting pain in her chest. Her legs were shaky but she managed to stand up using the wall as a crutch.

"Failing to see a negative there." Juliette muttered under her breath.

"I'm dying because he is," Adalind pointed a broken fingernail at Burkhardt. "The further away we are from each other, the faster we'll both fade. It's already happening. Until his injuries are healed it's not safe for us to be apart."

They all looked at one another, considering but still mistrustful. Juliette stared at Burkhardt, before she whirled back around to Adalind. "I don't believe you."

"You don't have to." Adalind said, enjoying the shock on Juliette's face. "Wait a couple of hours and you'll be short a boyfriend."

"Are you threatening him?" Juliette asked. The more the woman talked, the more Adalind wished she was the one unconscious and Burkhardt was the one having to deal with her overprotective friends. Serena and Cami would have torn him to shreds.

Adalind snorted, her back still pressed against the wall but she could feel her legs becoming weaker. "Yes, because I'm willing to suffer whatever happens to him."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hank asked before Juliette could. The redhead shooting the back of Hank's head a glare.

"It's called Anima Vinculum." Adalind explained simply. Her patience was wearing thin and she was one step away from pushing past all of the people standing between them. All she wanted was for the pain to stop and she knew all it would take was touching the Grimm.

"Soul bond?" Rosalee asked, her brow furrowed in concentration.

"It's ancient." Adalind nodded at the fuchsbau. She found that the woman wasn't as annoying as Burkhardt's other friends and girlfriend. "I haven't heard of it being used the last few centuries. But we don't have time for a history lesson, Nick and I need to be close or we both die, do you understand?"

"Monroe, move." Rosalee reached passed the blutbad and pulled Adalind gently until she was seated next to Burkhardt. His bed was as uncomfortable as hers was but there was a calmness that filled her when her leg pressed against him. Juliette stared at Rosalee in disbelief and opened her mouth to protest, but before she could, Rosalee pointed at Burkhardt. "Look, his breathing is evening out and his vital signs are stabilizing."

Adalind could have fallen asleep with relief when the unforgiving pain disappeared from her body, leaving her muscles loosened and the ringing in her head giving way to blessed silence. "Believe me now?"

Rosalee sat next to Burkhardt's legs and Adalind felt a strange sense of anger when Rosalee's hand rested on the Grimm's ankle. "Tell me about Anima Vinculum."

"It was a spell the royals used to bond children with their nurses, back when assassinations were more common." Adalind ripped her eyes away from the fuchsbau's hand. "It bonded the baby and nurse's lives together, so the nurse would protect the baby rather than run away if an assailant came. It was also a way of punishment if the nurse failed- if the baby died than so did the nurse."

"How noble," Hank said.

Monroe came to stand at her side, as if he couldn't trust her to sit next to Burkhardt. "How do you know that's what's happening to you and Nick?"

"When he was dying, I felt all his injuries, in detail. I saw where he was when the spell bonded us." Adalind tried to describe.

"Where was he?" Hank cocked his hip out, and Adalind knew he was questioning her like he would one of his suspects.

"A gas station bathroom. He was laying on the ground, bleeding out." Hank stared at her for a moment before nodding to the others, telling them she's right.

"What does Anima Vinculum mean for Nick?" At least his girlfriend finally started asking the right type of questions.

"It means that until Nick heals it's dangerous for both of us to be apart," Adalind repeated. "Him being a Grimm means it's unpredictable enough, accounting for the fact that the spell hasn't been used in a couple hundred years, and we have a volatile cocktail of trouble. Anything could happen."

"So what? You want to move into our house, sleep in our bed? Handcuff yourself to Nick while he's at the precinct?" Juliette was enraged and, for once, Adalind couldn't blame her. There wasn't a reasonable solution. "How do we know you didn't do this?"

"I didn't ask for this! You think I want my life chained to someone? Especially a detective who moonlights as a Grimm? I'll be lucky to survive long enough to figure out how to unlink us." Adalind yelled back. The bond was taking its toll on her, mentally and physically.

"I can help," Rosalee started.

"We both can." Monroe pitched in.

"Thank you," Adalind said sincerely.

Juliette snorted out a laugh. "You expect me to leave Nick with you?"

"Not by choice, no, but you don't really have one." Adalind yawned and reclined back against the headboard of the bed. It was getting more difficult to stay awake and even the people in the room staring at her, and the Grimm in the bed, couldn't keep her up much longer.

"We should go research this and leave you both to rest." Rosalee stood from the bed and began ushering the others out. Juliette began to protest, not wanting to leave her boyfriend alone with a hexenbiest but Rosalee leaned in to whisper. "The sooner we figure out how to fix this, the sooner you have Nick back without Adalind being attached to him."

Before she shuts the door, Juliette sent a last glare at the blonde laying next to her boyfriend. Adalind ignored her, burying herself in the scratchy hospital blanket instead, her forehead falling on Burkhardt's shoulder as she drifted into sleep.

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When Adalind woke up, she was sleeping on a Grimm's chest with his arms wrapped around her and his nose buried in her hair. Adalind stretched away from Burkhardt like a cat, limbs lethargic from sleep. When her mind finally catches up to who was sleeping next to her, Adalind jumps away from the waking Grimm. Burkhardt's shocked expression at finding a hexenbiest in his bed, sent her tumbling over the side. Honed reflexes reached for her arm and Burkhardt yanked her unceremoniously back onto the mattress.

"What the hell are you doing in my hospital bed?" his hand felt hot on her arm, but a pleasant heat that left her feeling relaxed. The feeling must have been mutual because Burkhardt didn't move his hand away from the crook of her elbow.

"It's a long story, but the first thing you need to know is that I won't hurt you."

His fingers tightened on her arm and he shook his head a few times roughly. "Because I'd believe that coming from you."

"You should since I can't hurt you without hurting myself." Burkhardt continued staring at her in disbelief. Adalind rolled her eyes and reached behind her with her free hand, slamming it as hard as possible against the wall. The Grimm cringes away and watches his hand turn a sickish shade of red, exactly the same as hers.

He turned his hand over, looking for something Adalind couldn't see. "That long story, you'd better start telling it."

"Long story short," she said with a grin. "Anything that happens to you, happens to me. Someone bonded us together and I'm the only reason why you didn't bleed out in a filthy bathroom. I'd say a thank you is in order for my pain and suffering."

"Thank you," Nick said automatically before his face scrunched up in confusion. "You said bonded, so if I had died…"

Adalind nodded, pulling her legs up to her chest protectively. "Best case scenario, I would have gone into an indefinite coma because the bond was new. Worse case, I would have died along with you."

"How do we break this?" he asked, reclining in his hospital bed next to Adalind, shoulder brushing against hers and his hand still holding onto her arm tightly.

"I don't know." she whispered, suddenly unwilling to break the quiet. "Your friends are working on it right now and as soon as you're checked out of here, we'll go through my collection of books at home."

"Just because we're "bonded"," he air-quotes the word with a roll of his eyes. "Doesn't mean you get to tell me what to do. You and I aren't friends. _We_ don't do anything together."

"You and I aren't friends." she repeated with a nod. "We're soul bonded. If we're too far away from each other for too long, extreme pain will be the least of our problems. So, yes, it is _we_, for the foreseeable future."

"What are we supposed to do?" he sounded defeated as he looked at the white wall across from them. "You've been nothing but a threat to me."

"I don't think I have to tell you that me hurting you isn't an issue right now." An understatement, Adalind thought.

"You can hurt the people I love." Burkhardt said.

Breathing out a sigh, Adalind rolled her eyes. "Why would I do that?"

The Grimm glared at her, his teeth grinding together as he spit. "You hurt them before."

"Because that's what I was told to do." she ignored the look of anger on his face, throwing her head back until her line of sight was limited to the ceiling.

"By who?" Burkhardt demanded.

"I'm not telling you." she retorted, just as upset.

"You said we're stuck together, you say you won't hurt me or my friends, but you won't tell me who's trying to hurt us." Burkhardt continued to question her. "What if they come after me again? If I die, so do you."

"He won't. He wouldn't hurt me." Adalind said, exhausted with their conversation. Sean wouldn't hurt her, he loved her.

Burkhardt grinned and she realized she'd slipped, she had said he. Something the Grimm didn't know before and she had accidentally told him. "You're so sure of that, Adalind. What if you're wrong?"

Before she could tell him that she wasn't wrong, a nurse burst through the door. The woman froze in shock at finding her patient in bed with a woman and Adalind tried not to think about the image that they made.

"Excuse me! What is going on here?" she shrieks and Burkhardt pulls Adalind's arm further into his side, an unconscious action.

"I'm sorry, this is my boyfriend and when I found out he was here, I couldn't keep away." Adalind says in what she hopes comes out more like love sick, and less like an annoyed hexenbiest. "He's a detective and I always get so worried for him." Her nails dig into Burkhardt's thigh when she hears the beginning of a laugh.

"Oh, I understand how difficult it must be but the beds are for the patient." The nurse sounds more understanding and patient than Adalind would have thought, she must have been more convincing that she thought.

Adalind climbed out of the bed gingerly and sat on the chair next to him, the one Rosalee had sat in. "Is this okay?" she asked the nurse sweetly.

The elderly woman nods and grants them a smile, no doubt thinking of how clingy young people were nowadays. "Yes, that's fine. The doctor will be in here shortly."

"Boyfriend?" the Grimm asked, eyebrow raised in question.

"Seemed like the only way to explain what was happening." she said. "Or would you rather I tell the the human that we're supernatural creatures who are usually trying to kill each other but since someone went and soul bonded us, we have to play nice?"

"You sounded sickeningly clingy." Burkhardt grinned, ignoring her snappy remarks.

"I just thought of what Juliette would say." Adalind said, just as sweetly as she'd talked to the nurse and enjoys when Burkhardt glared at her. "How did you end up bleeding out anyways?" she asks nonchalantly.

"I stopped to get gas on the way home. Ended up getting jumped by half a dozen Wesen."

"You're a Grimm, shouldn't you be able to handle a couple of Wesen?" He'd been able to avoid getting killed by her, a powerful hexenbiest, and he couldn't protect himself from one or two regular wesen?

"While I appreciate the confidence in my skills, I was ambushed. They came out of nowhere, I managed to get one or two off of me but there were too many." he was annoyed with her but continued to answer her questions. It was an interesting turn of events.

"Who knew you were here?" she asked suddenly.

"What- what do you mean?" Burkhardt stuttered, confused.

"I mean, who knew that you -a Grimm- live in Portland? This might be a shock to you, but not all Wesen are Grimm-friendly. There are those who would do anything to get rid of Grimms. Including beating one to death in a parking lot." Adalind stated, matter factly.

"The only people who know I'm a Grimm are people I trust with my life." he started. "Then there's you and your royal."

"And with mine," Adalind knew Sean wouldn't try to kill Nick, he was more interested with getting a Grimm on his side. "There are things you don't know about our world. Not everything is as black and white as you make it out to be."

"I haven't exactly been at this Grimm thing for long." he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. "And the only other Grimm that I knew was my aunt Marie, and she's gone."

There was a part of Adalind that wanted to apologize for trying to kill his aunt while she was dying in the hospital but another part was just sorry she hadn't gotten the job done before the Verrat. Who knew that his aunt would have taught him if she'd had the chance. To be the Grimm all Wesen children were taught to fear? The one who beheads first and asks questions later?

"The second you came into your abilities, you became a target. Being a Grimm isn't like other jobs, you don't get a learning curve. You get one big mistake, your first and your last. You're lucky that someone bonded you to me, otherwise you'd be dead."

"You almost sound concerned." Burkhardt said with a roll of his eyes.

"You almost sound like you've forgotten that whatever happens to you, happens to me. So if you get yourself beheaded, I don't walk away." Green eyes staring her down, an intimidation and a threat meeting them. She wouldn't die because of him.

"How could I forget, you only care about yourself." He sneered, sounding remarkably like his girlfriend in that moment.

"We all enjoy what we're good at." A doctor came through the door, a chart held loosely in his hand. "I'll let the doctor check you out, I'll see you later."

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_To be continued..._

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**I'll be honest, I didn't expect any attention to this story since the Grimm fandom is so small but I'm pleasantly surprised. Hence why you guys got this monster of a chapter. I don't have a beta so all mistakes are mine.**

**Review Question- What was your favourite Adalind and Nick scene through the series?**

**Mine is a tie between Adalind telling Nick she loves him for the first time and when Nick reunites with Adalind and Kelly at the "Mayor Mansion".**


	3. She Kills Him

**Chapter Three**

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**~Adalind Schade~**

Nick Burkhardt, Grimm and detective extraordinaire, was moving into her townhouse.

And if that wasn't enough to ruin her mood for the next decade, Nick Burkhardt had decided to leave his stupid, oversized boxes laying around the living room. Because he was moving into her home and taking too much of his things with him and Adalind didn't know what to do with that exactly.

She walked towards the kitchen, planning on making herself something to chew on while Nick bloody Burkhardt hung the rest of his clothes in her closet. Her foot kicked over a stack of boxes accidentally and Adalind knelt to pick up the single item that had slid off the top. It was Nick's wallet and the boxes, to her great displeasure, were completely empty.

"Could you throw away the empty boxes, please?" Adalind called towards her bedroom while turning his wallet over in her hands, there was dried blood on one side and she wondered why he hadn't at least cleaned it off if he was going to keep it.

She heard what sounded suspiciously like an empty box being hurreled at her bedroom wall but she ignored it, curiosity getting the better of her when she saw the lamented edge of a picture sticking from the side. "Yeah, in a minute."

She rolled her eyes, "By please I mean now."

Her fingers finally pulled the picture loose from the dried blood and, to her great shock, found her own smiling face looking back at her. She remembered that day, she was in New York, it was the one good day she spent with her mother as a teenager without being barated or embarrassed of doing something wrong. She'd gotten to be a normal girl and that was a memory she treasured. She had been looking for this picture for a few weeks, planning in sticking it into her single photo album.

She heard him stumbling past the boxes he'd thrown into the hall and quickly shoved the wallet and her picture aside, quickly climbing to her feet. It was funny actually, how could a Grimm be so loud and clumsy? Maybe they all made a mistake and he was some unfortunate creature that they couldn't remember.

Nick came into the room, he'd abandoned his jacked a long time ago and was sweating through his shirt but didn't seem to mind. Adalind scrunched up her nose in disgust, he was definitely a Grimm then.

"How many people know you're the Grimm, anyways?" Adalind asked, sitting back against her couch. She crossed her legs over the cushion next to hers, inclining her head back to look at Burkhardt. "I noticed the two humans in your hospital room."

"Hank and Juliette are the only non-Wesen who know I'm a Grimm." He took a large gulp of water, a streak of liquid flowing away from his lips and down his jaw, disappearing into the collar of his shirt. Adalind scolded herself for following its descent.

Adalind groaned, of course, he would be stupid enough to expose the biggest secret in the world to an outsider, a human no less. What an idiot. "I thought it was obvious that your identity should be kept a secret."

"I tried to keep it a secret." He bit out."But something made it difficult."

She waved her hand away, like she was swatting an annoying fly. Which wasn't far from the truth. "You can stop glaring, I know you mean my sparkling personality."

"You drugged Hank," Nick accused, pointing his finger at her like that would hurt her in some way. "You almost killed him."

"Boo hoo, he enjoyed himself." She sure hadn't, Hank was nice but he wasn't her type. Not with the divorces or the string of constant calls into the department. It had been a job, like her dayjob, both working the cops in a way.

"Yes, I'm sure his favourite part was being comatosed. Or maybe it was sleeping in his car outside your house for a few weeks." Nick finally took a seat, tired of towering over her and failing at intimidating her.

"I'll send him an apology card," her fingers played with a loose strand of blonde hair.

"Hank saw a suspect woge, he thought he was going insane, what was I supposed to do?" he asked, it almost sounded like a plea. Like she was supposed to give him an alternative to what he had already done. Was she supposed to reverse time to undo his stupidity?

Adalind shrugged, "What about Juliette?"

"She was there when a Wesen came to kill me, I killed him and she saw him woge." he pressed his back into the couch and Adalind bit her lip to keep from shouting at him about nasty sweat stains. He looked like a kicked puppy.

"Wow, you're terrible at keeping secrets." she snorted and Nick looked at her, shocked about the undignified sound. Clearing her throat, she sat up straighter and leaned towards him. "Something else is bothering me."

"Well that's a shame." Nick ran his fingers through his hair and Adalind noticed his arms. Cords of muscle moving gently, but powerfully, under the fabric of his sleeve. She ripped her eyes away with a scowl.

What the hell was happening to her?

"I'm serious," Adalind bit out, refusing to look at him and give him the satisfaction of seeing the light blush on her cheeks.

"What is it?" he sounded like he couldn't care less but humoured her anyways.

"Why are you carrying around a bloody picture of me?" she demanded. "Do you have some sick wall of wesen you've killed? Or tried to kill?"

"No," his eyes snapped to hers and he looked horrified enough the Adalind didn't question him. "I took it from your photo album the last time I was here," to rescue hank before she could sleep with him. "I thought I could use it to defeat you."

"'Defeat', you're acting like I'm a comic book villain." Talking as if Grimm's were the heroes in her stories. "And how is my picture supposed to do that?"

"Most of my friends don't know about you, or what you are, I thought if I could show them your face and tell them you're a Hexenbiest-" Nick started.

She cut him off, throwing her hair over her shoulder as she fell back into the couch. "Then they would be too afraid to approach me and you wouldn't have to worry as much about me killing them."

"How did you find that picture, anyways?" Nick asked. Like she didn't have a right to look through whatever he had decided to bring into her home. Especially if those things had her face plastered all over them.

"I went looking through your things," Adalind deadpanned. "You know, that's probably how we ended up like this." She gestured between them, their invisible bond. Tying their lives together through dark magic.

He looked confused again and Adalind wondered if that was a look she would have to get used to until they broke the bond between them, "What do you mean?"

"From what I know about this from my mom," which wasn't much but it wasn't like she could call and ask for a referral when the person sitting next to her was a Grimm."The spell works by connecting two people. Whoever did it probably saw my picture, assumed you were keeping it out of sentiment and decided I was the best candidate."

"Sentiment?"

"Like a girlfriend or a wife or a sister, someone who would care enough to be okay with being the sole thing keeping you alive." she said pointedly, reminding him not so subtly that she was that person and he had better not get any ideas.

"I'm keeping you alive too," his back straightened and he moved forward, his chest pushing her leg off the couch when he stopped in front of her face. "Sweetheart."

"Don't call me that," she had meant to come off harsh and unyielding, Adalind didn't like nicknames. No matter how sarcastically they were said. But instead it came out breathy and low, like she was having a hard time pushing words between her suddenly dry lips. "I don't like pet names, Burkhardt."

Despite looking sweaty and gross, he smelled amazing. Like sunshine. And even with the foot of space between them, she could feel his warmth radiating from his skin. Adalind distantly wondered if all Grimms were like this, or if it was just her Grimm that was a personal heater. Her skin felt heated and her throat was parched.

"Or what?" he grinned devilishly, fingers drumming on the couch, above her head. Adalind couldn't remember seeing his hand move there. "Darling."

"I'll make you stop." she threatened.

"That right, princess?" Her fingers curled into his shirt and she yanked him forward.

Her nose brushed his and his hand dropped to knot in the curls spread over the couch cushion under her head. Idly playing with the edges of her hair. "I said stop calling me names."

"Make me." he growled and she didn't know why but the sound fit him like a tailored glove. His green eyes were dark and his tongue swiped at his lower lip, her eyes watching him like a wolf hunting her prey. "Kitten."

And then she was killing him. Or maybe she was kissing him.

She didn't know. All she knew was that this is what being devoured by fire felt like.

Searing pleasure from where his lips swallowed her sighs, they were soft and firm and tasted like lemon. He was made up of hard edges, hard strokes of his tongue as he begged her for entrance into her mouth, the sharp bone of his jaw digging into her palm as she held his face. Adalind parted her lips and he plunged inside, unthinkingly her legs wrapped around his waist and pulled him down.

His fingers dug into the hair at the base of her neck, knotting in the strands as he held her face firmly to his. Adalind couldn't breathe without inhaling his scent and, oh was he devine. Her tongue danced with his as he explored the confines of her mouth. His left hand dropped from above her head, sliding under the small of her back to draw her closer. Pull her closer.

Nick's hips rolled against her and she could feel how hard he felt, even through the layers of denim between them. His arm tightened around her and his fingers held her hair in a deathgrip. He kissed her for dear life and death, and she kissed him for everything inbetween.

His lips fell away and she whimpered in protest, wet lips touched the point where her jaw met her throat. He trailed slowly down her neck, nipping at the skin and soothing it with kitten licks. Nick's hips continued to move, slowly, torturously against her.

Then it all cleared away.

She yanked at his hair until his face came away from her neck, his lips bruised and eyes black. Adalind gasped at the eternal darkness staring back at her, she remembered when those eyes last looked at her. She had seen herself reflected in them as the monster everyone saw her as, but this time there was no rotting corpse, no eye sockets and no gaping teeth or white hair. All she could see was herself surrounded by a pale silvery light.

Her fingers slowly rose, thumbs skimming the skin under his eyes as she stared at herself in wonder. But the image didn't change. It was just her, the way she saw herself. Blonde hair, blue eyes, pink cheeks full of life.

"Nick?" she croaked, her throat tight. "God, what are we doing?"

He blinked and the blackness cleared away, Nick surged up, ripping himself from her and moving clear across the room. "What did we just do?"

"I don't know."

"I have to talk to Monroe." And with that he grabbed his jacket, glanced her way for a split second before the door was slamming behind him.

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_To be continued..._

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**I'm dedicating this chapter to _blue-azul-acero_ for being a great reviewer and taking such a liking to this story.**

**I'd like to apologize about how slow this story is probably going to get updated. While I love the Grimm fandom, this story and _will_ do my absolute best to update- I have several other stories and I always end up with a lot of work from university.**

**I do hope that doesn't put you off from following!**


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